Perfect Superstar

Chapter 168 - Thank You Senior

Chen Guodongdidn’t have many fans in the Inspur blog, only 200,000+, which can be regardedas a small V.

However, he iswell known in the pop music world. He is a contributor¹ to anumber of music websites and magazines, and has a wide range of contacts in thecircle. Therefore, there are a lot of star artists and industry celebrities whofollow each other in the blog.

Once the "SilentMajority” was published, it got a lot of repost.

Musicsuperstars Tan Hong and Chen Fei’er, Flying Stone Record Music Director LinZhijie, famous artist Zhang Zhirong, and pop radio host Shu Ping and other BigV have all given positive comments, forming a wider influence on the Internet.

On September16, the next day, the three words “Lu Chen”, “You Who Sat NextTo Me” and “Silent Majority” appeared on the homepage of Inspurblog at the same time.

There werealso many bloggers who post on their blogs the short films they shot at theircollege orientation parties, which were basically live videos of studentperformers playing and singing songs in Lu Chen’s album.

A guitar, ahandsome guy, a folk song...

Most ofthese videos were shot on cellphones, and the picture quality and sound qualitywere not good, but the atmosphere at the scene was good enough to show thepopularity of Lu Chen’s original songs among the student community.

People inthe industry were astonished to find that “Campus Folk Song”, a folksong category created by Lu Chen himself, has unwittingly gained wide influencewith the release of his first album, and has been recognized by countless youngpeople.

When Lu Chenpromoted “Campus Folk Songs”, many people scoffed at it and evendismissed it as an act of sensationalism.

Now It was entirelypossible to leave a strong mark on the historical books of domestic pop music!

Someentertainment record companies were keen to pay attention to this market and wereplanning to launch works of the same style.

Lu Chen’sInspur blog has gained hundreds of thousands of followers.

Also, onSeptember 16, the sales volume of “You Who Sat Next To Me” exceeded300,000 on QQ Music!

Surprisingeveryone!

It isimportant to know that the sales performance of a singer’s albums on thewebsite is mainly concentrated in the first week, especially in the first threedays, and will definitely decline in the following days, or even have a big drop.

The reasonis simple, online piracy is rampant with the hot sales of albums. A largenumber of it will appear on posts, forums and QQ groups for others to downloadfor free, which can’t be contained at all.

Under suchcircumstances, even the works of superstars and celebrities, the downward trendis also irreparable.

“YouWho Sat Next To Me” was put on the shelves of QQ Music on the 8th. By the16th, It has been on the shelves for a full 8 days. It has already passed theprime sales period. Normally, the sales volume should be getting less every dayand entering the late stage of accumulation.

But no oneexpected that this album to go against the trend and sold 50,000 copies onSeptember 16, which was unbelievable and enviable - Your mother, this was too outrageous!

This miracleonce again strongly proved Chen Guodong’s assertion about the “silentmajority”.

Because bythis time, there shouldn’t be many inherent fans of Lu Chen buying the album.

The successof “You Who Sat Next To Me” made Lu Chen’s originally decliningpopularity erupt again, and many entertainment agencies and advertisers have calledor took the initiative to contact Lu Chen Studio for cooperation.

Performance,endorsement, buying songs... made Lu Xi so busy, and her cellphone hasn’t stopringing all day long.

Of course,Lu Chen left all these matters to his elder sister.

He believedthat his sister will be able to handle it.

As for LuChen himself, of course, it was impossible for him to be idle.

At 1 pm onSeptember 17, he went to the Beijing Satellite TV Building to participate inthe rehearsal of the National Day Party of the satellite TV station.

BeijingSatellite TV basically has four big parties every year. They are the SpringFestival Gala on the first day of the Lunar New year, the New Year’s Eve Party onDecember 31, the Taiwan National Day Party on June 8 and the National Day Partyon October 1.

Among them,the Spring Festival Gala and the New Year’s Eve Party have always been thehighlights of the TV station. Comparatively speaking, the scale and investmentof the Taiwan National Day Party and National Day Party have been inferior, andthe audience rating have not been high.

However,Beijing Satellite TV has a great influence in Beijing. Even for the NationalDay Party with low ratings, there are still countless actors and singers who desperatelywant to stand on its stage, even if they have to throw away their faces.

Lu Chen’sopportunity to take the stage at the National Day Party of Beijing Satellite TVwas originally exchanged for his song “Life On A String”. And after hewon the championship of “Singing China”, it was more reasonable thathe was able to participate, and no one can gossip about it.

Otherwise, withhis status as an independent new artist and with his personal connection in thecircle, there was basically no way for him to participate.

Lu Chenstill attached great importance to this National Day Party, so he rushed to thesatellite TV building ahead of time.

With theinvitation letter and ID card sent by satellite TV station, Lu Chen arrived atthe T1 Studio of Beijing Satellite TV very smoothly.

This newstudio was opened just two months ago and can accommodate 3,000 live audiencesat the same time. The total stage area is 3,500 square meters, and it has advanceddecoration and atmospheric facilities, which can be called the best in theindustry.

Lu Chen hasbeen here before, and knew the way.

There werealready a lot of entertainers in the backstage of the studio. Lu Chen saw manyfamiliar faces inside. They were famous singer stars in the circle. The lineupat this party was undoubtedly quite strong.

Under thearrangement of the TV station staff, he sat down in the reserved seat.

Similarly,in the backstage, the arrangement of the dresser’s position is very particular.First of all, the top big stars don’t mix in the big room. They have separatesmall VIP suites available.

Secondly, thefirst and second-line star idols occupy the space close to the entrance andexit of the stage and separated by a partition. The third, fourth, fifth and18th lines are all arranged in a neat and unified position in the largedressing room.

As for otherordinary entertainers, such as backup singers and dancers, they basically canonly stand at the corner, or even go to the circular corridor outside to waitfor preparation. Even getting a drink of water is not easy.

Originally,when Lu Chen participated in “Singing China”, there were not manysingers in the backstage, so the backstage was very spacious. Now the rehearsalsituation of the party was completely different, and it was very busy andcrowded.

The staff ofthe TV station have to use an electronic loudspeaker to speak, otherwise it willbe difficult to hear them clearly.

After LuChen took his seat, he didn’t run around to add to the chaos. He took out his cellphoneand began to play on his own.

His state ofmind was very relaxed.

Becausetoday was the first rehearsal, there was no need for makeup and dress change. It’sjust about singing.

“SeniorLu Chen!”

Lu Chen hadjust opened QQ, there came a voice full of surprise: “You’re here!”

Lu Chencouldn’t help but turn around to look. He immediately smiled:“Xiaochu!”

It was noneother than Mu Xiaochu who greeted him!

Mu Xiaochuis a sophomore at Beijing Foreign Studies Institute. She is only 19 years old thisyear and can be regarded as Lu Chen’s junior sister.

Don’t lookat her sweet, charming, delicate, and shy personality. In "Singing China"competition, she had overcome all the difficulties in her way. With the sweetsong "Small Town Nocturne", she narrowly beat Bihai singing area challenger GaoZhanpeng with a total score of 91.68, winning the fifth place in the national top10. (TN: She was the fifth one to enter the national top 10.)

In the finalnational election, this girl with a sweet singing voice won the fourth overall placeand was signed by Flying Stone Records.

Nearly amonth later, Lu Chen was also very happy to see this junior sister, who was as beautifuland lovely as the girl next door. Lu Chen got up with a smile and asked, “Whendid you come here?”

Mu Xiaochupursed her lips and said with a smile, “I just came here, together with BrotherZhang Xiaohai.”

It was onlyat this time that Lu Chen noticed a young man in black jacket was standing nextto Mu Xiaochu.

The youngman in jacket is 24 or 25 years old. He is a bit taller than Lu Chen. He lookshandsome and fashionable, and has the idol temperament, but he looks a bitcrafty.

“BrotherZhang...”

Lu Chen tookthe initiative to extend his hand to the other party: “Long time no see,how have you been?”

Zhang Haohaiis also one of the top 10 singers of “Singing China”. He is a nativeof Shancheng and a Beijing drifter singer. He has strong singing skills andgood at dancing. He won the third place in the final and also signed by FlyingStone Records.

Lu Chen andZhang Haohai are not familiar with each other. Apart from the originalcompetitive relationship, there is no resentment or contradiction between them.Therefore, Lu Chen was a little puzzled by the slightly hostile attitude of theother party.

"SingingChina" was already over.

“I’mdoing all right.”

Zhang Haohailightly shook hands with Lu Chen and said, “But not as good as you, who alreadyreleased an album.”

Lu Chen saidwith a smile, “it’s just luck.”

Since ZhangHaohai was neither salty nor indifferent, he will not use his own hot face tostick to the other party’s cold buttocks. (TN: He will not be enthusiastic tothe other party since the other party is ignoring him.)

Mu Xiaochusaid very seriously, “Senior Lu Chen, you don’t rely on luck, but onstrength!”

“Ibought several copies of your album and gave it to my classmates, and they allsaid it was very pleasant to listen to and they all wanted to see you!”

There was ashy smile on her face and she said softly, “When can I invite senior to havea meal together?”

ZhangHaohai’s complexion became a little dark.

Lu Chenimmediately understood.

ZhangXiaohai has an idea on Mu Xiaochu, and he was not happy to see the latter takethe initiative to get close to him.

He shook hishead secretly, but readily agreed: “No problem, you have my cellphonenumber, you can call me at any time, I will invite your classmates todinner!”

Mu Xiaochu waspleasantly surprised: “Really?”

Lu Chennodded seriously: “Of course, it’s true. As a senior, how can I deceive myjunior sister?”

Mu Xiaochuwas amused: “Thank you, senior!”

The twotalked and laughed intimately, Zhang Xiaohai finally couldn’t stay any longerand said, “You guys talk, I’m leaving.”

Mu Xiaochuand Lu Chen nodded, but didn’t talk.

After ZhangXiaohai left, the two looked at each other and smiled.

Lu Chencould see that Mu Xiaochu didn’t like Zhang Xiaohai, and it was just out ofpoliteness and nothing more.

Mu Xiaochusaid, “Thank you, senior.”

The samesentence, but the former and the latter have very different meanings.

_________

TN: Contributors are those who write articles for a particular field for news organizations. Contributor is an author who does not have a contractual relationship with a news organization, but frequently and automatically provides manuscripts in a certain field.